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J. K. V 



.!. R. T 



SEVENTH PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 



THE 



CHRISTIAN MINISTER 



IN THE PULPIT: 



AN 



INAUGURAL DISCOURSE, 



BY REV. WILLIS LORD, D. D.: 

PREACHED ON THE OCCASION OF HIS ENTERING UPON THE PASTORAL CHARGE 
OF THE SEVENTH PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, CINCINNATI, DECEMBER 28,1851. 



PUBLISHED BY REQUEST. 



CINCINNATI: 

JOHN D. THORPE, NO. 74 WEST FOURTH STREET. 

1852. 



iA ' 



CORRESPONDENCE 



Cincinnati, March, 1852. 
Rev. Willis Lord, D. D., 

Dear Sir: — Having listened with deep interest to your Inau- 
guration Sermon, delivered in the Seventh Presbyterian Church, 
Broadway, in December last, and desirous of preserving it for refer- 
ence in a more permanent form, we respectfully request from you a 
copy for publication. 

R. T. McFarland, 

Henry Thomas, 

M. H. Fowler, 

H. Morris Johnston, 

J. H. Coyle, 

E. B. Gardner, 

M. F. Thompson, 



Wm. F. Irwin, 
John W. Herron, 
Sam. B. Keys, 
P. A. Spinning, 
L. A. Ostrom, 
Samuel Lowry, Jr., 
John Grubb. 



Cincinnati, March 13th, 1852. 
To Messrs. McFarland, Irwin, and others : 

Gentlemen: — Your appreciation of my Inaugural Discourse, 
is far higher than my own. I feel a real reluctance in giving it to 
you for publication. Desirous, however, of gratifying, in every 
proper way, the young men of the congregation, and, in the hope 
that the Discourse may be of some use to yourselves and others, I 
submit it to your disposal. 

Very affectionately yours, 

Willis Lord. 



INAUGURAL DISCOURSE. 



If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God ; if any man 
minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth ; that in all 
things God may be glorified, through Jesus Christ; to whom be praise 
and dominion forever and ever. Amen. — 1 Peter, 4: 11. 



If the importance and dignity of any office among men, 
are to be estimated by the divinity of its origin, the benefi- 
cence and grandeur of its design, and the vastness and 
glory of its results, those of the Christian Ministry must 
be confessed incomparable. 

But we propose no eulogy. We are here now to speak 
of the duties of the office. In due time, God himself will 
reveal its honors. 

The passage we have read has its primary application to 
all who have received the gifts of grace. Every christian 
is a steward, accountable to God for all his faculties and 
means, and for their use, according to the principle here set 
forth. This general application, however, involves another 
which is special. The law which binds all christians, rests 
with increased force on those among them who hold posi- 
tions of peculiar influence and responsibility. There is an 
obvious propriety, therefore, in viewing the text as having 
an official aspect ; as a copy of instructions, which, append- 
ed to and explanatory of his commission, God has given to 



[6] 

every Christian Minister, to determine invariably and for- 
ever the matter, manner, and end of his preaching, to-wit : 
I. The Word of God. 
II. In the Strength of God. 
III. For the Glory of God. 

We thus indicate our subject for the present occasion, 
and bespeak for the views we may suggest, your intelligent 
consideration. 

I. The Christian Minister is required, first of all, to 
preach the Word of God. "If any man speak, let him 
speak as the oracles of God." By this term, "oracles," 
Stephen (Acts 7: 38) designates the law given at Sinai. 
Paul uses it (Rom. 3: 2) with reference to the entire Old 
Testament. Extending still more its meaning, Peter em- 
braces in it here, the revelation made to the Evangelists 
and Apostles, as well as to Moses and the Proph- 
ets. It denotes, therefore, the complete Scriptures. In 
their variety and fulness, their facts and precepts, their 
doctrines and examples, without adulteration, reservation, 
or equivocation, and presented in due proportion and de- 
pendency, these are to constitute the essential matter of 
his preaching, who speaks to men in the name *of Christ. 

This general proposition feAV, of course, will in form deny. 
It were too plain an impeachment of Him who gave us the 
Bible, resplendent on every page with his own signature ; 
and who gave it as the only perfect rule of faith and 
practice. 

Is there, however, no denial of this, and departure from 
it, in fact? In these days of progress and bold adventure, 
are there none among the professed ministers of the 



[7] 

gospel, liable to the charge of violating this explicit law of 
heaven? 

Arraign the Moral Preacher. It is, indeed, an abused 
word. 

"Talk they of morals ! ! thou bleeding Love — 
The grand morality is love of thee ! " 

But waive this misuse of the word, and does not then 
the merely moral preacher stand fearfully delinquent? 
Sweetly, soothingly, winningly he may preach, but does he 
preach truly? What he calls morals, he may preach; the 
beautiful, the right, the good; but does he preach, like 
Paul, Jesus Christ and him crucified? Pointing to the 
cross, does he cry, with the earnestness of one who feels, 
that the death there is the life of men— 

" There hangs all human hope ! That nail supports 
A falling universe ! That gone — we die ! " 

Who does not know the reverse of this is true. With 
seemingly polite, but resolute endeavor, he aims to under- 
mine the cross; to conceal its character and designs; to 
vacate the atoning efficacy of the blood of Christ, and tear 
the diadem from his head. He eulogizes innocent, god- 
like human nature ; infirm it may be, and sometimes 
erring; but essentially pure and good, and, therefore, ever 
longing for and tending to its divine source. Natural sym- 
pathy, with him, is no small part of religion; and the tear 
it gracefully sheds over suffering, will help, at least, to wash 
away sin. And so he warbles, "peace, peace;" even 
though "there is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked!" 

Arraign the Philosophical Preacher. More presumptuous 
than wise or devout, he determines alike the meaning and 
the truth of the oracles of God, by their coincidence with 



[8] 

the dicta of what he regards as the pure reason. Facts, 
with him, are not the basis of theory; but theory the test 
of facts. The subjective is everything; the objective, 
nothing. 

Are there none of this class? What intelligent man does 
not know, that for long years an unbaptized philosophy has 
been covertly attempting to supplant the authority, and 
eviscerate the substance of revelation. In the schools and 
in the pulpit are men, who affect the distinction of rational 
divines, as though it were not the highest office and honor of 
reason to receive, as a child, the disclosures of the Infinite 
Mind, They would light their tapers in Plato, Kant, Cole- 
ridge, or Morell, rather than in Isaiah, John, or Paul. The 
Academy is to them more attractive and instructive than the 
Cross; Athens than Jerusalem; Olympus than Sinai and 
Calvary. By a marvellous perversion of the first principles 
of reason, they conclude, and some avow, that in our investi- 
gation of religious truth, we should pay a superior defer- 
ence to the abstruse sentences of the metaphysician, than 
to the clear averments of the only wise God ! The result 
is legitimate as it is mournful. In certain religious circles, 
metaphysical theories have become so incorporated with or 
substituted for scriptural truth; the fundamental facts and 
principles of the gospel so stripped of their sacred sim- 
plicity, or essentially adulterated or perverted, as often to 
defy the recognition of those who have studied them only 
in the writings of Prophets and Apostles. Certainly, then, 
whatever else may be his merit, the self-styled philoso- 
phical Preacher does not "speak as the oracles of God." 

Arraign the Practical Preacher. We hope we shall not 
be misunderstood. We use this term, also, in its too 



[9] 

current meaning — a meaning most meagre and perverse. 
How often does it indicate the man, who, though seemingly 
laborious, is too indolent to think; whose preaching is little- 
more than the iteration of a few, and those the simplest, 
elements of truth; who oftentimes is most impassioned in 
the sacred desk, most strenuously in earnest amidst com- 
plete vacuity of thought, toiling to build without materials, 
without a basis. Mental inaction soon induces mental 
feebleness. Natural vigor is rapidly enervated by indo- 
lence. As the effect of an inevitable law, such a man de- 
scribes a constantly narrowing circle, of which a point be- 
comes, at length, the center and circumference. 

Or take the best examples of this class. Sermons on 
dietetics, furniture, dress; on alms-giving, responsibility, zeal; 
on even repentance, prayer, watchfulness, love, do not 
exhaust the gospel. The Christian Minister is indeed seri- 
ously at fault, who does not give them their true place and 
degree in his preaching; but then they mostly belong to 
the surface rather than the heart of the great evangelic 
system. Nor is true piety all an impulse, or a feeling. 
The oracles of God are filled with vast and glorious truths, 
on which they must build who build for heaven; truths va- 
rious, enriching, transforming, ennobling, and, like masses 
of precious ore or flashing diamonds, not all nor chiefly 
scattered on the surface, but imbedded deep in exhaust- 
less mines. Heal piety, also, is an enduring principle, rather 
than a fluctuating emotion. It has a ground and root, and 
imperishable life, where no eye of man can pierce. Its 
most characteristic development we call faith. The faith of 
the christian is attracted by and reposes on the divine tes- 
timony. That testimony is to him knowledge, truth. And 
2 



[10] 

this is the grand foundation and incentive of holy effort 
and love. 

Arraign, finally, the Doctrinal Preacher. Doubtless he 
has our sympathy. If we must give our suffrage to any 
one of those thus glanced at, we must give it to him. He 
labors to understand and exhibit the oracles of God. He 
goes down into the mines, and brings from their concealed 
treasures, gems and massive ore. He presents truth to 
men, systematically, logically; oftentimes luminously. 
They cannot hear him uninstructed. Did the heart always 
follow the understanding, they could not hear him without 
salutary impression. He is, however, deficient. The prac- 
tical preacher brings you a dim torch, but no fuel. The 
doctrinal preacher brings an abundance of fuel, but fre- 
quently no fire to kindle it. Or, as the anatomist of the 
dead body, he will show you the bones, joints, ligaments, 
muscles, tendons, nerves; he will point you even to the 
beauty which still lingers in the countenance — the beauty 
that lingers oft in death — and you shall admire the won- 
derful adaptation, dependence, symmetry and finish con- 
spicuous through the whole. Yet, it is a corpse. No soul 
speaks in those glassy eyes. That cold heart does not 
throb. The vital current is congealed in the arteries and 
veins. The animating, sympathizing spirit is gone. 

What then? Do we underrate morality and philosophy, 
practical appeal and doctrinal discussion? By no means. 
In the biblical conception of them — the only true one — 
these things have our profoundest regard. We have been 
using the terms in the current, not the legitimate sense. 
True practical preaching is the exposition and enforcement 
of the doctrines of the Bible. True doctrinal preaching is 



[11] 

necessarily practical. Under God's constitution for intelli- 
gent and moral beings, we may no more look for a vigorous 
and enduring holiness, apart from Scriptural knowledge, 
than for the light and heat of noonday without the sun. 
Or, to change the comparison, Scriptural knowledge is as 
requisite in order to holiness, as in architecture the founda- 
tion and frame are to the superstructure and covering. It 
is but a sickly piety, which rests on declamation, however 
fervid, and not rather on the precious, searching, vivifying 
truths of God's word, intelligently and prayerfully ponder- 
ed. It resembles the fitful glare of a dying lamp, now for 
a moment gleaming with an unnatural brightness, and anon 
struggling for a mere gloomy existence, rather than the 
steadily increasing light and glory of the sun. 

He, then, is the true preacher, who speaks as the oracles 
of God. If he preaches morality, it is that of the Bible, 
embodied in the code given from Sinai, and most solemnly 
re-enforced by the sacrifice on Calvary. If he preaches 
philosophy, it is that of the Bible, emanating from the Om- 
niscient mind, and conveyed to us in the utterances of in- 
spired men, and of Jesus Christ, When he exhibits the 
doctrines of religion, it is in order to those practical results 
which the Bible everywhere connects with an intelligent 
and cordial reception of the truth. When he enforces the 
duties of religion, it is on the basis of those fundamental 
facts and principles on which the Bible makes all duty rest. 
In his regard, the Bible is the only volume bearing the 
great seal of God, and containing his whole message to 
men. With him, therefore, the Bible is infallible and su- 
preme. 

And by this view of the Bible, and of his own office as 



[12] 

its expounder and enforcer, is he doomed to dull monotony ? 
Must he traverse a narrow circle? Is there not scope here 
for all his powers, in their most vigorous and their widest 
excursions? Is this a shallow fountain? Are its streams 
mere rivulets, soon dry? Away with the falsehood. What 
a peerless volume is this ! What visible and inseverable 
links bind it to the throne of God! What unsearchable 
treasures of wisdom and grace does it reveal to men! 
What sources of individual elevation! What foundations 
and means of social well-being! What elements and sanc- 
tions of civil and moral law! What pathos of appeal! 
What power of argument ! What dignity of history ! 
What perfection of eloquence! What strains of poetry! 
What glories of holiness! What manifestations of God! 
What disclosures concerning man ! What depths of mercy ! 
What acts and sacrifices of love! What records of crea- 
tion and providence; of apostasy and redemption ; of judg- 
ment and eternity ! What gloom and wo of hell ! What 
splendor and bliss of heaven ! 0, then, if any man speak, 
let him speak as the oracles of God. 

Perhaps, however, you are ready to ask, what great sys- 
tem of truth, as you judge, do the divine oracles teach ? 
The inquiry is altogether appropriate, and we answer : un- 
doubtedly that so admirably set forth in the recognized 
symbols of our beloved Church — the Catechisms and the 
Confession of Faith. We receive these symbols ex animo. 
By no infrequent or superficial study of them, in compari- 
son with the Scriptures, we are thoroughly convinced that 
no more exact and complete expression of the mind of 
God, has ever been made by uninspired men. We receive 
them, therefore, not only in those points in which they are 



[13] 

at one with the common faith of evangelical Christendom, 
but also in those where, unhappily, so many, otherwise or- 
thodox, dissent from them. Their very peculiarities here 
seem to us precisely those of the Bible. In this sacred 
place, therefore, we shall feel bound to preach, not only the 
doctrines of the Trinity in unity, the Deity of the Son and 
Spirit, the native sinfulness of man since the fall, justifica- 
tion by faith in an atoning Saviour, and eternal judgment, 
in opposition to Socinianism and its affiliated errors, but 
also the representative character of Adam, and of Christ ; 
imputation, therefore, both of sin and righteousness ; sover- 
eignty, also, and specialty in the purposes and acts of infi- 
nite grace; in distinction from Arminianism in all its forms 
and degrees. We think these truths are clearly revealed; 
that they are of deep interest and moment ; that to reject 
or slur them mars and dishonors God's system, and, so far, 
impairs the means and power by which he would save lost 
men. Those so called improvements in modern theology, 
as compared with that of the Reformation, which discard 
these truths as belonging to the contracted ideas of a 
darker age, are, in our view, simply perversions of right 
reason and scriptural testimony ; which show the foolishness 
and presumption of men, not their sagacity or their piety. 
As we love the truth, the Saviour, and the souls of men 
for which he died, we must avoid and resist these specula- 
tions and delusions, and cleave with our whole mind and 
heart to the oracles of God. 

II. The Christian Minister is further required to preach 
in the Strength of God. " If any man minister, let him do 
it as of the ability which God giveth" 



[14] 

Besides the general application of the text already ad- 
verted to, we do not hesitate to admit, in this part of it, a 
reference to the specific duties of the Deaconship. It is 
plain, however, that with an intenser emphasis, it applies to 
the higher and more solemn function of ministering the 
word. 

It is obvious, too, that the expression, "the ability which 
God giveth," denotes something more than the faithful ex- 
ercise of those mental and moral powers which are natural 
to men. These are indeed to be used, and with the utmost 
skill and force, in preaching the gospel ; but they are to be 
used with a persisting and holy reliance for success, on the 
graciously co-operating and supernatural power of God. 

The dependence of the human mind on Him who made 
it, is direct, perfect, absolute; as much so as is that of 
passive and dead matter. The most capacious and sublime 
intellect, would sink in instant idiocy or nothingness, should 
God withdraw his influence. He gave to Newton, Milton, 
Edwards, their powers, as really as he gave to Gabriel and 
his fellow angels theirs. In either case the gift behoved to 
be conserved by Him who bestowed it. It is equally true 
of all men and all angels. The necessity is plain. Self- 
existence belongs only to God. Independence even, of a 
creature, is a term without meaning. 

But besides this dependence of the mind on God, for its 
being, and in its ordinary operations, it is equally depend- 
ent for illumination, so as to discern spiritual things; for 
sanctification, so as to admire and love what is holy ; for 
that supernal unction which alone can duly qualify the 
Christian Minister for his sacred work and office; and which, 



[15] 

when most vividly realized, will cause him to look up more 
earnestly and hopefully to God, for strength and efficiency. 

And above even this, there is a necessity which inexora- 
bly compels us to Omnipotence, in the labor of the gospel. 
It results from the nature and greatness of that change to 
v be wrought in the souls of men, before they can be fitted 
to go up from the jaws of hell to a holy and glorious 
heaven. What other change so radical, so entire, so really 
immense. Why, look at God's own representations as to 
human character, and the resulting state of men. "They 
are all gone out of the way; there is no fear of God before 
their eyes; there is none righteous, no, not one: the car- 
nal mind is enmity against God, not subject to the law of 
God, neither can be ; by nature the children of wrath ; con- 
demned already ; yea, dead in trespasses and sins." Hold 
your minds to this last averment of the Spirit. How sad. 
How terrific. How true. Dead ! yes, dead .in sin ! 

Of course unrenewed men have physical life. Their 
bodily organism and powers may be perfect. None, in this 
respect, may be more sensitive, vigorous, beautiful, than 
they. 

They have also mental life. We can find among them 
some of the most gifted and brilliant intellects. Their un- 
derstanding can unravel the intricate, and fathom the pro- 
found. Their reason can construct most strong and lucid 
chains of argument. Their imagination can range wide, 
soar high, and clothe with unearthly forms and beauty its 
own almost countless creations. 

But they have no spiritual life — none. Of that noblest, 
that divine kind of existence, there is not in their souls the 
slightest pulsation. It is utterly extinct ; as much so, as 



[ 16 ] 

is animal life in that dead body you have just now with 
weeping committed to the grave. Dead, testifies the Spirit, 
dead in trespasses and sins ! 

Now, the office of the Christian Minister contemplates the 
communication of spiritual life to these subjects of spiritual 
death. In such a work what can he do, except as a mere 
instrument? What can truth, argument, eloquence, en- 
treaty do, except, also, as mere instruments? Doubtless, 
there is a most perfect adaptation of the means God em- 
ploys in this matter, to the end he seeks, and to the nature 
of men whom he would save. But what of this, as touch- 
ing the point we are now considering? What efficiency 
can there be in any or all means, or instrnments, however 
adapted, apart from the intelligence and power that use and 
apply them? That sword of finest temper and keenest 
edge, what execution can it do, without a skillful and pow- 
erful arm to wield it and press it home? In the sphere of 
religion, what can the sword of the Spirit do, without the 
arm of the Lord? 

Recur to the Scriptural representation just now cited, and 
let analogy instruct us. 

Go to that grave where is buried a dead body. Bid it 
live. Speak in the name of God. Reason, exhort, prom- 
ise, threaten, weep. Does it hear you? Does it obey your 
voice? Does it come up from sepulchral cerements and 
gloom into the consciousness and joys of a new fife? Alas! 
Dust unto dust, is the inevitable process. You cannot 
make alive the dead body. 

Go, then, to that other and sadder grave where is buried 
a dead soul. Repeat your attempt. Bid it live. Speak 
in the name of God. Reason, exhort, promise, threaten, 



[17] 

weep. Does it hear you? Does it obey you? Is there 
now light in the darkness? Is there now life, from the 
dead ? No. The sepulchre* continues silent and gloomy. 
The desolation still reigns. You cannot make alive the 
dead soul. 

Let God instruct us. " Which were born, not of blood, 
nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of 
God." " Ye are his workmanship, created anew in Christ 
Jesus." "You hath He quickened, who were dead in tres- 
spasses and sins. "Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, 0, my 
people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up 
out of your graves ; I will cause breath to enter into you, 
and ye shall live." 

What then? Do we make void, or in anywise disparage 
the efforts and influence of men, through this power of 
God? By no means. No conclusion could be more illog- 
ical and unwarranted. This truth of our dependence on 
God, felt in the intensest degree, seems to us one of the 
grand elements of all successful preaching. Is God en- 
gaged with us? What an animating thought. How it im- 
parts vigor to the weary, power to the feeble, hope to the 
desponding, courage to the fearful. May I, who in myself 
am nothing, lean on Him who is almighty? Will His 
strength be made perfect in my weakness ? With exulting 
confidence, then, I will go forth to my great and otherwise 
hopeless labor. I have in this a blessed realization and so- 
lution of Paul's paradox — When I am weak, then am I 
strong ; — weak in myself, weaker than an infant, but strong 
in God. 

Nor, as we conceive, does this truth, diminish the neces- 
sity or value of talent and learning in the Minister of Christ, 
3 



[18] 

As it is the law of God's government to effect moral and 
spiritual results by appropriate agencies, the completest fit- 
ness for his service is to be intensely desired and attempted. 
No one needs more than the Christian Minister, the high- 
est endowments, both of nature and grace. No one needs 
a more thorough mental discipline, more varied or available 
information, more skill to reason or more power to impress 
and sway. If commanding powers of intellect, the wealth 
of learning, or the fascinations of eloquence become the or- 
ator, or jurist, or statesman, conducting the comparatively 
small affairs of time, much more do they become him who 
stands before men to negotiate the claims of God, and pre- 
pare the soul for its majestic course along the expanse of 
immortality. 

Let him, then, assiduously culture his mind, invigorate 
and enlarge it by habitual and manly use, and enrich it 
with the treasures of all appropriate learning. The habits 
so formed, and the acquisitions so gained, will be beyond 
price. 

Let him, moreover, in this general labor, devote some 
special study to philosophy. In its proper conception and 
use, it will help him in his sacred work. By its aid he can 
better understand the mysterious nature and subtle yet 
mighty powers of the soul. It will give him skill to detect 
and expose the protean forms and disguises of error, in its 
ceaseless assaults on the evangelic faith; to discern more 
clearly the divine fitness and excellence which characterize 
the Scriptures; and, in its presentation to the mind, to in- 
vest the truth with such precision and transparency, as shall 
often startle men from the deep apathy of speculative un- 
belief. Let him even revere philosophy and honor her 



[19] 

decisions, while she moves in her legitimate sphere. When 
she passes that, and invades the domain of God, let him 
rebuke her pretensions and frown on her impiety. 

Let him also duly regard, as an important auxiliary in 
his great work, the power of those means and influences, 
designated by the term moral suasion. It can often rivet 
the attention of men, thrill them with sympathy or fear, 
arouse their conscience, and temporarily curb their passions. 
According to his ability, let him wisely use it, in the exhi- 
bition of divine truth, and the enforcement of human duty. 
He is bound to attempt all those avenues to the hearts of 
men which God has made. He may depict the beauty of 
holiness, the goodness of God, the love and agony of Christ, 
the attractions of heaven, and so awaken, if he can, their 
admiration and gratitude. He may clothe the skies with 
blackness, roll the thunder, dart the lightening, set the 
rainbow, if he can, to draw the gaze of men, and then, 
through the disparted clouds, show them God in his infinite 
majesty; God whom they have sinned against, and by whom 
they are condemned. All this may make a salutary im- 
pression. It may serve some good purpose as preparative 
to salvation. Let him, however, remember that the imag- 
ination and the sensibilities are not the heart; that the one 
may be wrought up to intensity, while the other hates the 
truth with an augmented bitterness; that in the specific 
and immense work of regenerating men, all human arts and 
power are impotent. They can do much beside, but they 
cannot do this. They may, peradventure, roll the stone 
from the door of the sepulchre; they may take off the 
grave clothes, but they cannot vivify the dead. The power 
that originates and communicates spiritual life, and spreads 



[20] 

abroad spiritual light, is resident only in God. 0, then, if 
any man minister, let him do it, not as if the great result 
he seeks can be effected by might or by power; by learn- 
ing or philosophy; by logic or eloquence; or even by the 
truth alone. Let him do it as of the ability zvhich God 
giveth! 

Ill The Christian Minister is still further required to 
preach for the Glory of God. "That in all things, God 
may be glorified through Jesus Christ." 

For this, God built the universe, created all intelligent 
existences, and sustains them in the being he gave. 

For this, the co-equal Son of God came forth from the 
Father on his mission of redeeming love. 

For this, the eternal Spirit of God, proceeding from the 
Father and the Son, visits this ruined world, to effectuate 
the purposes of the infinite Three, and prepare the redeemed 
for heaven. 

For this, Gabriel, and the whole angelic host, veil their 
faces, spread their wings, present their adorations, and fill 
the celestial world with praise. 

For this, man was made with all his various susceptibili- 
ties and active powers. 

For this, even mute nature 

" Warms in the sun, refreshes in the breeze, 
Glows in the stars and blossoms in the trees." 

Yea, the universe itself, in its minuteness and its immensi- 
ty, is as a resplendent mirror, to reflect from every point the 
attributes and all the glory of its infinite maker and sover- 
eign God! 

Selfishness is the contrast and antagonistic principle. It 



[21] 

is the ultimate source of discord, disorganization, desola- 
tion. It arrays every creature against every other crea- 
ture; and all against God, their author, and their only bond 
of union and blessedness. The intelligent and moral uni- 
verse is thus riven into as many different and hostile parts, 
with as many centers of primary affection, as there are in- 
dividuals. The Bible denounces this. It reveals another 
and a nobler law. It sublimely says to every creature, 
"thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and 
thy neighbor as thyself." It establishes, thus, a common 
and worthy center of supreme affection to all men and all 
angels, sweetly binding the heart of each one to the other ; 
and of all, to Him who sitteth upon the throne. The glory 
of God, therefore, both essentially involves the highest good 
of the universe, and necessarily flows from it. 

Now, in reference to this great end of thought, effort, 
being, the Minister of Christ occupies a position of peculiar 
responsibility, because one of peculiar advantage. There 
are respects in which he can do more than others to make 
manifest the glory of God. He is required, therefore, to 
do more. He must never lose sight of this ultimate and 
supreme end in his preaching. God is glorified when his 
truth is honored, his grace received, his government rejoiced 
in, his attributes adored. Every soul brought in contrition 
and faith to the cross, and which thence pursues the way 
of holiness to heaven, adds lustre to the crown of Christ, 
and beauty to the rainbow round about his throne. The 
exulting notes of the angels, when they witness the tri- 
umph of mercy, whether in the case of "one sinner that 
repenteth," or in connection with scenes of revival, when 
many press into God's kingdom, are notes of praise to the 



[22] 

ineffable Trinity. Every victory of truth, holiness, and 
Christ, over error, sin and Satan, brings glory to God. 

How much, then, may the Christian Minister do, in this 
ennobling and holy work. And how ought this truth to 
give activity and power to his intellect, ardor and enthusi- 
asm to his heart, argument and eloquence to his tongue. 
For this let him often bend the knee in secret. For this, 
so far as possible, let him regulate the intercourse of life. 
For this let him enter the sanctuary and the pulpit. Es- 
pecially there, while humbly though firmly holding upon 
the divine strength, let him hide himself behind the divine 
glory. Let there be impressed on all his prayers, written 
on all his sermons, stamped in vivid characters on his whole 
manner, faculties, aims, life, this, — "that in all things God 
may be glorified, through Jesus Christ." "Him first, Him 
midst, and Him without end!" 

If we glance now, in closing, at the points thus gone 
over, with a view to some of the practical deductions they 
authorise, it is evident: 

1. First, that the Minister of Christ comes to men with 
a definite and divine message. The Scriptures are "the or- 
acles of God," attested to be so by kinds and degrees of 
evidence, to resist and deny which is madness. The doc- 
trines, therefore, we teach, are from his wisdom. The pre- 
cepts we enjoin rest on his authority. The promises we 
rehearse flow from his love. The threatenings we denounce 
are robed with his sanctions. "The prophet that hath a 
dream, let him tell a dream; but he that hath the word of 
God, let him speak that word faithfully." The truths we 
thus proclaim, no matter how controverted or despised, will 



[23] 

remain truths. The errors we thus condemn, though en- 
trenched in sophistries, never so plausible and seducing, 
will remain errors, ruinous to men and hateful to God. The 
sins we thus rebuke, though patronized and defended by a 
world, will remain sins, to be exposed and punished in the 
great judgment. And then, in all the alternations of hope 
or fear, of joy or sorrow, of success or disappointment, we 
shall be as graciously accepted and rewarded by God, if 
faithful, as though through our instrumentality the race 
came bending in love and homage at his feet. 

2. It is farther evident, that every Minister of Christ 
has the lest possible ground of encouragement and success. 

It were indeed a labor, from which the mightiest angel 
might shrink, if, superadded to the responsibility of faith- 
fully preaching "the oracles of God," it were his also to 
invest them with a renewing and transforming power; if by 
the force of his intellect, or the impressiveness or splendor 
of his eloquence, or by any of the arts of conviction or 
persuasion, within the reach of creatures, he must enthrone 
the truth as it is in Jesus, with an actual and abiding su- 
premacy over the heart. Alas ! Leviathan is not so tamed. 
By such power Satan is not cast out, nor the dead raised. 

This, however, is not our work. The dispensation of the 
gospel is, by pre-eminence, the dispensation of the Spirit. 
When, in all fidelity to men and to God, we have delivered 
his message, our responsibility as to that ceases. Another 
and a divine energy intervenes between the proclamation of 
mercy and its acceptance by the lost. The Almighty 
Spirit comes, and, when he wills, breaks the heart of ada- 
mant, breathes the breath of life, fills the quickened soul 



[24] 

with gracious impulses and affections, and forms it in the 
transcendent image of God! 

Can we ask for a higher power? Can we wish for a 
greater encouragement ? Is not this enough to make the 
desponding joyful., and impotence itself mighty? "Who 
art thou, great mountain? Before Zerubbabel thou shalt 
become a plain; and he shall bring forth the head-stone 
thereof with shoutings; crying, Grace, grace unto it!" 
Why? Because, with Zerubbabel is the Spirit of the Lord. 
Let us, then, in this sacred labor, but "speak as of the 
ability which God giveth;" let but the energies of Omnip- 
otence attend our ministrations, and we will call upon the 
dead, upon these dead, and they will hear, they will obey, 
they will come up out of their graves, they will go forth in 
the view of men and angels, in the beauty and power of a 
new and an immortal life ! 

3. It is still further evident, that every Minister of Christ 
may be sustained and cheered in his work, by the anticipa- 
tions of a most glorious futurity. God will be glorified. 
Whatever else is doubtful, this is sure. As one of God's 
faithful servants, he also will be glorified. 

He will not indeed be without many and sacred plea- 
sures this side of heaven. The purest happiness on earth 
flows from doing good, and becoming like the Saviour. 
The consciousness that, under God, one is the means of 
diminishing the sins and wo of men, augmenting their tem- 
poral welfare and enjoyment, and preparing them for a 
blessed immortality, what pleasure can surpass this? But 
this is felt by the faithful Minister. And while he is thus 
blessing men, he will himself be growing up into the 



[25] 

image of Christ, which is the very means and element of 
bliss. 

Besides this general influence of his labors, he will also 
have some special seals of his ministry. God will give 
him, at least, here and there a soul as jewels for his crown. 
Recognizing him as their spiritual father or benefactor, there 
will be some who will love him with a sacred affection; who 
will minister to his necessities; who will sympathize with 
him in his trials; who will remember him in their prayers ; 
who will listen with interest and profit to his instructions; 
and who, when God takes him to heaven, will cherish his 
memory, and go to his grave and weep. 

But more than this ; he labors in a cause not only sacred, 
but which shall triumph. There is no peradventure about 
it. Whatever may be the immediate results of his personal 
ministry on men, the day is rolling on when the universe 
shall witness the coronation and enthronement of Christ 
the crucified, as the King of kings and the Lord of lords. 
Men and devils cannot prevent it. The glory of God, in 
the redeeming Son, shall be revealed. Heaven, earth and 
hell shall see it, and the arch of the universe ring with hal- 
lelujahs ! 

In the surpassing glories of that day, the faithful Minister 
of Christ will specially share. Contemplate him, then. He 
has fought the good fight, he has kept the faith, he has 
finished his course, he has received his crown. Surrounded 
by those who were saved through his instrumentality, see 
him adoringly approach the sapphire throne. With a voice 
of heavenly melody hear him say, " Here, Lord, am I, and 
the souls thou gavest me." Issuing from the inaccessible 
4 



[20] 

glory, are heard the gracious accents, " Well done, good and 
faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord!" 

Man of God! is this the end of thy course! Is this the 
reward of thy labor ! Is this thine eternal blessedness and 
glory! 0, then, go on! Undismayed by difficulties or 
dangers; undesponding in trials; grateful for mercies; and 
with thine eye and heart immovably fixed on heaven, go 
on to accomplish thy mission! In sacred fidelity, preach 
without ceasing, "the oracles of God, as of the ability which 
God giveth, that in all things God may he glorified, through 
Jesus Christ." 

4. It is evident, finally, that these solemn duties of the 
Minister of Christ, involve corresponding duties on the part 
of those to whom he is called to preach. The fearful re- 
sponsibility existing here, is not restricted to the pastor or 
the pulpit. Ah, my brethren, you have an interest in this 
matter. If I must preach the word of God, on greatest 
peril, in case of unfaithfulness, surely you are equally bound 
to be present and hear it; to hear it as his word; and, 
by virtue of his authority, to render it a prompt and prac- 
tical obedience. Otherwise, what is intended as the 
means of life, will become the occasion of an aggravated 
guilt and a more terrific condemnation. Beware, I beseech 
you, of this result of an unheeded gospel. God helping 
me, I will declare to you all his will. God helping me, I 
will live among you in all christian fidelity. In his great 
name I here devote to your service my time, faculties, at- 
tainments, heart. You have called me to do it. When I 
would have . gone to the home of my childhood and the 
graves of my fathers, you said : No. remain with us. Be 



[27] 

our teacher, our pastor, our spiritual counsellor in this life; 
our guide to heaven. The providence of God so strangely 
concurred with your request, that, though it cost me a 
struggle not to be told, I durst not decline it. I am, there- 
fore, with you to-day, before God, and thus solemnly give 
myself to your service in the gospel of his Son. It is an 
occasion of vast moment, as well to you as to me. We 
begin now a relation whose history will inevitably add to 
the glory or the gloom of our eternity. Let us alike earn- 
estly seek to have it crowned and made sacred by the seal of 
God. I want your sympathy, prayers, love, and steady and 
cordial co-operation. I want you who are aged to give me 
your encouragement and blessing. I want you who are pa- 
rents to repeat at your fire-sides, and exemplify in your 
lives, the truths I preach. I want you who are young, first 
of all, giving yourselves to the Saviour, to come and stand 
by my side, and in the freshness of your affections, and all 
the vigor of your expanding powers, to help on the great 
and holy cause of God here, and through the world. Uni- 
ted in heart and effort to do his will, God will assuredly 
vouchsafe to us his gracious presence. He will dwell in our 
beautiful Sanctuary. He will fill it with attentive worship- 
pers. It will become the scene of revivals; the birth place 
of t many souls. His presence, too, will be in our happy 
homes and our grateful hearts. It will ennoble us in life. 
It will give us the victory in death. It will spread incon- 
ceivable blessedness and glory over our immortal being. 
Through his infinite mercy, may all this be realized. Amen, 



THE EDIFICE OF 

THE SEVENTH PEESBYTERIAN CHUBCH, 

• 

A representation of which prefaces the title page, is pleasantly lo- 
cated on the west side of Broadway, between Fourth and Fifth streets, 
Cincinnati. 

It is 68 feet wide in front, by 115 in depth, exclusive of a Lecture 
room in the rear 40 by 68 feet. 

The internal arrangement is peculiar, at least in this section of 
country. The Church and Lecture room being upon the same floor, 
no basement is necessary, whilst the apartments are rendered vastly 
more elegant, cheerful and convenient. 

The style of architecture is "Gothic." The front, which is built 
of the finest freestone, beautifully dressed, is divided by the tower 
into three parts, each of which contains a spacious doorway, opening 
into its corresponding vestibule, and thence into the several aisles of 
the Church. 

The tower is 145 feet high, divided, as is usual with Gothic 
Churches, into entrance, organ, clock, and belfry sections. It is fin- 
ished with boldly projecting angular buttresses, which diminish in off- 
sets as they ascend, and are terminated with highly enriched pinnacles. 

The belfry windows are coupled, with slender heptagonal shafts 
running up between each, also furnished with carved summits. This 
section, with its long narrow windows, its richly ornamented cornice, 
deeply panneled battlements, and various pinnacles shooting their 
slender spires far above the roof, is probably not surpassed for richness 
and beauty by anything of the kind in the United States—certainly 
not in the West. 

The interior of the Church is high and spacious. Fine large win- 
dows, filled with colored glass, abundantly light the apartment, which 
at night is illuminated by a superb chandelier of original design and 
chaste workmanship. 

The ceiling is composed of intersecting arches which, springing 



from pendants between the windows, spread themselves in a fan-like 
form towards the center of the room, where they gradually die away 
with a peculiarly light and pleasing effect. Foliated enrichments, 
corresponding with the style, are introduced, where the ribs intersect 
or meet, thus relieving the plainness of the ceiling, without marring 
its simplicity or offending the eye by an appearance of trifling orna- 
ment. 

The pulpit, choir, gallery, and pews, are perfectly original, and ex- 
ceedingly elaborate, both in mouldings and carved wort. The gal- 
lery is one of the most costly and imaginate specimens of its kind 
anywhere to be seen; while the pulpit, with its fine rerados, is 
scarcely a whit inferior. The pews are also of a beautiful design, 
and unusually large. 

The Lecture Room, immediately at the rear of the Church, is a 
plain, substantial building. The principal apartment is light, pleas- 
ant, and convenient. In the second story are rooms for the Pastor's 
study, Session, Trustees, Ladies' Missionary Society, Sexton's resi- 
dence, &c. 

Throughout the whole Church edifice, there prevails a spirit of 
elegance, simplicity and comfort, that will ever preserve its popu- 
larity as a place of worship. 

The edifice was solemnly dedicated to the worship of Almighty 
God, on Sabbath, November 2d, A. D. 1851. The dedication ser* 
mon was preached at 1 1 o'clock, A. M., by Rev. Wm. C. Anderson, 
D. D., President of Miami University, Oxford, 0., from the text — 
II. Chronicles VI, 41: "Now, therefore, arise, Lord God, into thy 
resting place, thou, and the ark of thy strength : let thy priests, 
Lord God, be clothed with salvation, and let thy saints rejoice in thy 
goodness." 

In the afternoon at 3 o'clock, the Lord's Supper was celebrated — 
many others from sister churches uniting with them in the ordinance. 

At 7 o'clock in the evening, Rev. Dr. Lord preached a sermon from 
1st Cor., 1st chap, and clause of 21st verse : " The world by wisdom 
knew not God." 

The morning and evening services were attended by large audi- 
ences, which filled the house to its entire capacity. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

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